Prayer Request

I just received this email from Joanne Strazzula McCarthy and I want everyone to pray for her and her family and let her know that we are so sorry to hear about her terrible loss:

Dear Friends,

It is with great sadness and sorrow that I am writing this letter to you. I want to inform you of the tragic death of our beloved three and one-half year old grandson Ronan. I know that I will find it overwhelming to speak with each of you and tell you this awful news on the telephone, as I wish I could. So, I chose this path as the easiest for me at this time.

As most of you know, Ronan was being treated for Cystic Fibrosis and was doing wonderfully well. He was living an active and normal childhood and was an absolutely happy and loving child. He was so excited about the joy of Christmas and Santa coming to his house. He had picked up a stomach bug that had been going around his pre-school class and was home for a couple of days. He rallied and after a couple of days returned to school. His mom went to the school a couple of times a day to dispense his enzymes, which he needed as a normal part of his CF routine. On her second visit that day, he seemed quite tired and she thought it best to bring him home. Well, he become worse and was brought to Children’s Hospital at Orange County (CHOC) where his condition quickly worsened and despite the best of care that he received there, doctors could not save him. It appears that his death was not due to Cystic Fibrosis and at this time, we do not know the cause of death.

Mike and I immediately flew out on the 19th and returned on Sunday, the 28th. The viewing was held on December 22, followed by a prayer service at the funeral home chapel. The funeral mass was held on December 23 at St. Cecilia’s Church in Tustin, California. My grandsons, Ronan’s brothers, Michael and Thomas, attend St. Cecilia’s School. Ronan was not a student there yet, but he was known and loved by everyone there. The St. Cecilia school community pulled together to support Michael and Eileen and the entire family. They took charge of everything and acted with such indescribable love and support. People sent food to the house; a dear friend was by Michael and Eileen’s side assisting them in planning the wake and funeral and was with them throughout every detail. The parents, students, teachers, priests, pastor, and principal of St. Cecilia’s all took loving and active parts in the funeral. All of his doctors and nurses from the CF Clinic were there as well.

The pastor of St. Cecilia’s Church, a parish priest from St Cecilia, and the pastor of St. John Neumann’s Church (which is Eileen and Michael’s neighborhood parish) concelebrated the funeral Mass. The principal of the school spoke beautiful words of Ronan and his family and how important and integral they were to all of them. She spoke of the joy and love that was Ronan and how he was an “angel that walked among us” and spread this love and joy to all that knew him. Many beautiful words were spoken that helped to soothe the deep pain of all of us.

Following the funeral the friends at St. Cecilia hosted a reception attended by a few hundred people. The friends set up the church hall and provided an extensive array of food for everyone. They also had compiled a beautiful slide show set to Ronan’s favorite songs entitled “A Tribute to Ronan McCarthy”. It was beautiful and showed his life and the interaction that he had with family and dear friends in his too brief like.

Indeed, Ronan lived a too brief life, but he touched more people in his short time on earth than some do in a long lifetime. The memory of his love and joy is an inspiration to all of us. We thank God for His gift of Ronan.

With love,
Joanne (Strazzula) McCarthy

Joanne, sending prayers from the Class of 1962. Hugs, Rose